December 2014 Newsletter

Dear All,
I hope you are well.
It was nice to see many of you at our Fish and Chip evening this summer and I look forward to seeing you at our AGM/Christmas Event on December 6th

You have helped us in our endeavours by communicating your concerns to us and I would like you to feel you can continue to so.  We are always open to suggestions to make the work of the committee appropriate to the ongoing needs of the Estate. If you have some ideas or would like to be involved, please contact me -  Rita Billinghurst rita.bygrave@btinternet.com 07947 043479.

Matters Residents want to be considered at the AGM are called Resolutions. These include nominations for people to serve as Committee members, which must be seconded by a Resident who is present at the meeting. Resolutions will be accepted if a majority of Residents present vote in favour. 

Resolutions must be in writing and be received no later than 7 days before the AGM. They should be sent to the acting Secretary, Margaret Oliver, ideally by email tocalnan7@btinternet.com by 29th November, 2014. Those without access to email should telephone heron 020 8856 5280 to be told the address to which they should write. Letters must be received by her by the same date so please allow time for postage. Please include your name and address in your email or letter.

AGM
THE PROGRESS RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION’S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND CHRISTMAS SOCIAL WITH SEASONAL MUSIC BY THE CHOIR OF ST. THOMAS MORE CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL will be held in the PROGRESS HALL ADMIRAL SEYMOUR ROAD on SATURDAY 6th DECEMBER 2014
Starting at 2:00 p.m.

Refreshments, including mulled wine and mince pies, will be served afterwards.

Raffle with seasonal prizes – tickets on the door

AGENDA
1) Minutes of the 2013 AGM
2) Annual reports (included in this Newsletter)
3) Resolutions submitted to the acting Secretary
4) Election of Officers and committee members
5) Election of sub-committee members:
a. The 2015 Group
b. The Social Media Group

2015 GROUP
The Group has been working hard all year and new members have joined it. The list of events for next year’s celebrations is just about finished. Although we were unsuccessful with our Lottery bid, our contingency plans mean we remain able to hold them all.

We have been supported and helped by a number of businesses, schools and organisations for which we are very grateful. 

The events (to be held in the Progress Hall, Admiral Seymour Road unless otherwise stated)are as follows:-

March 21st. Garden talk and plant sale. 

April 17th BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions. Gordon Primary School.

May 22nd John ‘Antiques Roadshow’ Sandon evening. 

July 10/11th Old Time Music Hall. Priory Players. 

July 25th Summer Celebration and Treasure Hunt. Lovelace Green.

Sept 11/12th Art and Photography Show. St. Mary’s Community Centre, Eltham High Street.

October 3/4th Estate History Walks.

Nov 6th Forgotten Voices. Recollections of WW1. Priory Players. 

Dec 12th Christmas Carols and Social. 

I hope a number of these events will be of interest to you and look forward to meeting you at them. 

Please watch out for more details on the posters we will be displaying locally and advertising in SEnine next year.

Please contact me if you would like to help at any of these events.
Rita Billinghurst rita.bygrave@btinternet.com 07947 043479

GARDEN TALK AND PLANT SALE AND GARDEN OPEN DAYS
As listed above, we will be holding a Garden Talk on 21st March 2014. This will be during the afternoon. If you have cuttings or unwanted
plants they would be very welcome on the day.

I know a number of you have gardens of which you are rightly proud so we are asking if any of you would be willing to open them up for one day next summer. If you are interested, please contact me. 
Rita Billinghurst rita.bygrave@btinternet.com 07947 043479

SOCIAL MEDIA GROUP
The creation of our website, an active email address list and the option for people to ‘like’ us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter has been a significant achievement in the development of the Association since these were launched in the Summer of 2013. 

By the end of September, we had created 82 pages of information on our website. The most popular were those advertising the items we have for sale to mark our forthcoming centenary and the ones dealing with Planning permission. The site had been visited by over 17,000 people.
About 25% of the page views were from other countries:
USA 2,364
Ukraine 258
Russia 245
Germany 208
France 164
Turkey 68
Brazil 55
Iran 36
Netherlands 35

Our Twitter followers number 278, to whom we have issued 259 Tweets.

We are ‘liked’ by 135 people on Facebook and each post has reached an average of 108 users.

Two hundred and seventy-one Residents receive our emails (a 50% increase since September 2013). There are also 61 non-residents who do so.

Anyone may email us at TheProgressEstate@Gmail.com. Messages will be forwarded to the person best able to deal with each query and (s)he will reply directly to you.

These are the only forms of communication that enable us to communicate pressing matters to Residents. They range from local events we believe might be of interest, to bogus fund-raisers and door-to-door callers who have been reported as being active on our Estate.

To join one of these communication streams, please see the right-hand side of the page to the subheadings under ‘Connect’.

If you are already receiving communications from us in one of these ways, perhaps you would be kind enough to check that your friends and neighbours do so as well. There are about 1,350 homes on our Estate so we estimate there to be 600 - 1,000 homes who do not yet receive our electronic communications in one form or another. 

Those without computers at home could sign up at Eltham Library. 

TREASURER’S REPORT October 2013 –September 2014
The 12 months to September 2014 was a productive time for the Association. The fund raising enthusiasm of the 2015 sub-committee and the continued efforts of the association have secured over £1,000 towards the 2015 Centenary Celebrations. This is a great achievement and one we intend to build on in the coming year. A huge thank you is due to all the volunteers and to the community who continue to show their support through attendance at our events and by the purchase of our memorabilia. 

The funds received by the Association in the last year have been from two sources; grants and fund raising activities

We received two grants in the year. Hyde South East provided £350 for the period April 2014 to March 2015 (£175 relating to the year ending September 2014).

The Co-operative Membership Community Fund (operated by the Co-operative Group) provided a grant of £1,060 for the purchase of the mugs and tea towels as well as other 2015 expenses. In our accounts, we have deferred £230 of this grant to our 2014/15 year due to a restriction in its terms. 

The remaining funds were raised either via raffles or the sale of memorabilia. Raffles and donations raised £251 (£148 in 2013) and sales of memorabilia generated income of £595.

Total income for the 12 months was £1,851 (£680 in 2012/13).

The main purchases have been the memorabilia and raffle prizes at £872, a gazebo £106, stationery at £118, affiliation to the St Mary’s community £55, and other items such as refreshments and Land Registry search fees £64. Hall and stall hire amounted to £194.
Total expenditure for the year was £1,409 (£575 in 2012/13).
Income exceeded expenditure by £443 (£105 in 2012/13).
At year end the Association’s assets were £1,460. These were cash or cash equivalents.
At year end the Association had liabilities of £535, including deferred income of £405.

Copies of the Association’s accounts will be available at the AGM. Any Resident who would like a copy beforehand should write to the email address below stating their home address and postcode.
Lisa Jonker
Treasurer 
TheProgressEstate@Gmail.com 

PLANNING REPORT
Planning applications
Sixty-nine planning applications were decided in the 12 months to the end of September 2014, an increase of 24 on the previous 12 months.

The Association has four options in deciding whether or not to respond to any particular application:
 We can support it.
 We can object to it.
 We can comment.
 We can do nothing.
Our sole concern is whether or not, when judged by reference to the relevant planning and conservation guidelines, the proposed works will have a neutral or positive effect on our Estate. 

We support those that do and object to those that do not.

We comment if we are in basic support of an application but would like Royal Greenwich’s planners to ensure a particular aspect is made a condition of approval. For example, the proposed works might involve the demolition of a traditional wall or fence but the plans do not make it clear that the replacement will replicate the one being removed.

We do nothing if an application is for works that will not be visible from the Public Highway. These are commonly for the removal of trees in back gardens that are not visible from sight-lines from the road or for the construction of rear, single storey extensions for mid-terrace houses.

The table shows how we exercised these options for the 69 applications that were completed in the 12 months to 30th September. 

As at the 30th September, 8 applications had not been decided.

Three of the 5 applications that were approved despite our objections involved rear extensions  whose bulk we considered would be detrimental to the Estate’s appearance. These are often finely balanced judgements so we have no on-going concern with the approvals. 

Houses changing hands
During the 12 months to the end of August 2014 (the data is published approximately 5 weeks after the end of each month) 44 houses changed hands, 4 more than in the preceding 12 months. We have delivered Welcome letters to them all. 
Keith Billinghurst
keith.billinghurst@btinternet.com
07962 877389

SAFER NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICE TEAMS
Eltham North Team
A member of the committee attended the regular meetings with the police covering Eltham North. 
We are able to report any problems we have seen or heard about in this area and receive a monthly report back. This report is sent to everyone on our email list. If you would like to report any concerns and/or receive the monthly reports please let me know.
Rita Billinghurst
rita.bygrave@btinternet.com
07947 043479

Eltham West Team
Two sergeants have moved on this year so we have welcomed Sergeant Ben Faxon from Bexley. 
The team has been held together during the year by PC Richard Greef. The back-up team, who can be called anywhere for other duties, consists of 4 PCs and a PCSO.

The priorities for the police team are Anti-Social Behaviour (including drugs) Burglary and Vehicle Crime.

Crime is relatively low compared with the rest of the Eltham Sector but has been slowly increasing. The current biggest problem is theft from motor vehicles (anything on display) which is happening all over Eltham West. Burglary from sheds is still a problem. The Eltham West Team continues to execute drug warrants. Other anti-social behaviour has been relatively low this year.

A number of measures are in place to try and reduce crime in Eltham West. These include alerting householders to insecure premises and leafleting parked cars warning the owners not to display goods. There are a limited number of crime prevention kits (Selecta DNA) available to Eltham West residents on a first come, first served basis from Eltham West Police Team.
Margaret Oliver
Association Vice Chair and Chair, Eltham West 
Safer Neighbourhood Panel